Nature of and in a great city!

From our walks around Detroit, this is our blog of animals, insects, trees, plants and other things from nature that we see. Most of the photos are ones that S.or I have taken in our neighborhood or during our travels in the city.

Motor City Birds

Thursday, January 21, 2016

We saw these ruddy ducks wearing their winter colors in the pool at the foot of the James Scott Memorial Fountain on Belle Isle. The males are missing the bright blue bills that you see at other times of the year. We were happy to see these those though, even sans the blue bills - had not yet spotted ruddy ducks in the city. As we walked closer, they quietly drifted further and further away.

Wednesday, December 02, 2015

Spotted this great little owl on a tree during our nighttime walk on Monday. Was really cool and a very cute bird. We had never seen an owl in the Motor City before. This one was only about 10 feet or so above our heads. It was not frightened at all by our taking pictures (some with flash) and walking around beneath it. The owl just watched us. At first we thought this was a northern saw-whet owl because of the clear streaks, but it seemed to have little ears. A little further research tells us it is an eastern screech-owl and that they are not skittish birds. The eastern screech owl is the smallest eastern owl with ear tufts. We really wanted to hear it sing. It remained silent though. You can here what they sound like here though. Is a great spooky sound. Much celebration in the household at this sighting.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Got up early on Saturday or rather I was rudely awakened by my father to take an early morning drive through Belle Isle to see if any interesting birds might be out on the water. It sounded fun enough and I could see that he was excited, so we drove down before the storm came through town. While on the island, we saw some birds that we had not yet seen in Detroit - we were pretty geeked about that. The first, was a large gull. I spotted it out in the middle of the main channel of the Detroit River. It looked like a large dark object floating pretty far out in the water - maybe a piece of wood or something. After watching it for a minute or two, we could see it was a bird that was feeding on something floating in the water. It seemed to be bossy with other gulls that were nearby and they did not want to go closer. Eventually, we got these photos and at home figured out it is likely a great black-backed gull. We have not yet seen much variety in the gulls here, so this was pretty exciting. Great black-backed gulls are much more common along the Atlantic coast, but they do come to the Great Lakes area, particularly in winter. Without further adieu, the great black-backed gull:

Sunday, November 01, 2015

One of the rituals of my family (well, maybe just my father) is to shout "hawk!" when we are driving down the road. This happens whenever he spots a hawk on in a tree, flying overhead, on a light pole, on a fence post, pouncing on a mouse in a field, etc. That and to randomly shout "blackbird!" in the same way - this one though is unconnected to an actual bird sighting and has something to do with a Kerouac poem. I'm not really sure. (This disappoints him. He insists that we check here at about 7:40 minutes in, if you want to know). Hawk sightings are pretty cool, especially in the city. Driving on the highway though does not make for good opportunities to stop and take a picture. We have gotten lucky a couple times in some of the city's cemeteries and on Belle Isle, but we see many more than we get pictures of. Identifying different types of hawks is difficult - takes experience. A really great place to see pictures of hawks and other raptors that pass through our area is the Facebook page of Detroit River Hawk Watch. It is a worth looking at. They also have a web page that gives more information on hawks along the Detroit river. Their page has a graph that shows the times of the year when different hawks are passing through. Clink on the photo (from their webpage) to see a larger version of the graph.

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Finally, we see some woodpeckers at the feeder. Pretty exciting around here. Had my father running to the window all morning. The red-bellied woodpecker is the one with the tight black and white pattern across its back. The name of these birds does not seem to make sense. They have bright red heads that you notice first. However, there is a pickish hue on their bellies and that is where the name seems to come from. At first glance, red-bellied woodpeckers can look very similar to northern flickers. If you look closer though, the red-bellied doesn't have the flicker's black throat scarf or the velvety gray on its head. The other woodpecker in our pictures appears to be a downy woodpecker. Telling the difference between a downy and a hairy woodpecker is not easy though. This one seemed to have the bill of a downy - narrow and like a thorn. We saw this on the same day as the red-bellied and then again a few days after. The oldest known red-bellied lived more than 12 years, while the oldest known downy lived over 11.

Monday, August 31, 2015

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

We, like everyone else, take Grackles for granted. Just another black bird with a sharp eye. If the light is right though, their iridescence shines through. So many colors on one bird. It's mesmerizing. Take a look.

Birdwatchingdaily.com has a good article that explains how the colors appear iridescent.

Iridescent feathers are made up of complicated arrays of minute reflectors ... sometimes comprise several ordered layers of melanin granules, air cavities, or both. The structures are sometimes twisted, so they work like the crystals of an infinitesimally small chandelier, absorbing and reflecting a range of wavelengths.

In male peacock feathers, reflectors are spaced and shaped to reflect different wavelengths, producing an array of hues. Similar processes create iridescence in grackles, hummingbirds, and other shiny-feathered birds. The effect enhances some wavelengths and cancels out others. Iridescent birds are shiniest on bright days when the sunlight’s intensity is high ...The noniridescent colors arising from feather structures are white, blue, and occasionally green.

The article also tells us how the color blue occurs in birds.

Unlike virtually every other feather color, no pigment turns feathers blue ... In the cloudy zone of blue feathers, the melanin and air cavities are so close that the distance between them is shorter than a wavelength of light.

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Yes, it's a House Finch. We've had a good turnout of House Finches at our feeder this winter. Along with Cardinals, it is the only red bird that is showing up though. We used to live two blocks away from our current home and before that just five blocks away (that's two moves to those who are counting). At those houses, we used to see Redpolls and Purple Finches and only saw a House Finch at our feeders a couple times. Now, House Finches are pretty common out there, but not the others. Will keep putting out the seed though and maybe sometime soon.

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Spring is still a month away! Ok, maybe a little less. Still seems early to see a Robin. And, at a feeder? This one seems to be one of the few that did not fly south for the Winter. A little research tells us that not all American Robins fly south. Some do winter-over. But, what is it doing at a feeder. Robins usually eat insects, worms, fruits and not a whole lot else. Food has probably been difficult to come by this Winter with the amount of snow that we have seen and this one might be hungry. We did not have mealworms or fruit at the feeder, so it seems he was either finding some safflower seeds or in the hopes of finding something edible, was following the lead of the other birds that were active eating dropped seeds. Lets hope he makes it through to the other side of Winter.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

The Detroit Free Press had an article last week alerting folks that the Detroit International Wildlife Refuge was doing a tour of some property owned by DTE Energy near their Monroe power plant (blek and yes, its coal-fired and its super close to their Fermi nuclear facilities, uggh, but I won't go on). Bald eagles are plentiful on the property and have made a great comeback all along the Detroit River. Check this video from a few years back of the great bald eagle near Peche Island. The birds overcome the soundtrack.

Saturday, January 04, 2014

A couple goldfinches and a lazy mourning dove were hanging around our feeder today when they suddenly took flight. Their exit was explained when this Cooper's Hawk swooped into a nearby tree a moment later.

Saturday, January 05, 2013

We were excited when we spotted these Hooded Merganser swimming at the edge of a flock Redhead ducks. Was kind of serendipitous that we spotted these on the same day that we saw our first Bufflehead - both have the unusually large patch of white on their heads.

Thursday, January 03, 2013

On a driveby, we spotted a large group of Redhead ducks milling about the Detroit River on the north side of Belle Isle. Upon closer inspection, we saw that the Redheads were not alone, and that their flock had been infiltrated by a Hooded Merganser, a couple Canvasback and Common Goldeneyes.

Tuesday, January 01, 2013

A cold, windy day on Belle Isle did not deter a large number of ducks from showing their colors. We saw these Bufflehead cruising the main channel of the Detroit River. S. spied the large white patch on the male's head - it stood out against the grey water.

Monday, December 31, 2012

It was freezing cold and the wind was pretty wicked, but on a drive around Belle Isle after the snow came down, we spotted a good number of ducks swimming the Detroit River. Here are a couple that held still and came close enough for some photos:

Friday, June 29, 2012

Another late winter group of photos. These were from Elmwood Cemetery. S. relates:

These birds are so cute I love them. If it was pecking at something on the ground and I wasn’t looking that closing I would think it is a rock. They are just so tiny. They’re feathers on top off their head too looks like a Mohawk.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Woodpeckers are just so hard to find , but when you do find them it’s pretty awesome. Normally if you see a woodpecker you see the litte normal ones (Downys) with the red head. So I think it’s pretty cool to see a different one.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

This hawk looked pretty cool and is the first one we have been able to get a good look at when we had a camera ready. Its feathers blend in with nature really well. Especially, if it were Fall and it was on the ground next to a pile of leaves you may not be able to see it. Even though they are birds of prey S. finds them kind of cute, but would definitely not like one as a pet. We saw this at Woodmere Cemetery in SW Det. Not sure what kind it is. Drop us a note if you know!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Unlike many songbirds, both male and female cardinals sing. the female often sings from her nest. I love how the female’s beak is so orange against the tan feathers of the bird. See our prior post on Cardinals (with photos of the males).

Monday, January 09, 2012

Took us a while to figure our what this bird was - it kept showing up at our feeder with a couple Goldfinches. Found out that female Purple Finches sometimes travel with Goldfinches. The breast streaks of female Purple Finches do not converge in a central spot as on many sparrows. We've haven't spotted a male Purple Finch yet.